One selection committee to oversee men’s, women’s and junior cricket?

Can Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who have done yeoman service to Sri Lanka cricket on the field find the right combination in forming the national cricket selection committee?

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

With Sri Lanka due to make a two-Test tour to South Africa towards the end of December it will be in the best interest of everybody concerned that the Ministry of Sports announces the new cricket selection panel which would get down to the business end of selecting the Test team for the tour.

The Sri Lanka team is scheduled to leave for South Africa two days after the Lanka Premier League (LPL) ends on 16 December and the majority of players who will make the Test squad are those who will be involved in the T20 LPL. The LPL will be the only competitive cricket they will get before embarking to South Africa.

Playing in the shortest format of the game is not the ideal preparation ahead of a Test series, but the Lankan cricketers starved of any international cricket since March, and any Test match cricket since January due to COVID-19 have no other option but to accept what is on the plate.

The last red ball cricket Sri Lanka played was in Zimbabwe in January where they won the two-match Test series 1-0 (1 drawn). And since March, they’ve had two Test series against England and Bangladesh involving a total of five Tests postponed. The only red ball cricket they have played is the Premier Super Eights and Plate tournaments in August. Thus the series against South Africa beginning on Boxing Day will be Sri Lanka’s first Test match in almost a year.  

With Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) having a problem finding suitable people to serve in the men’s selection panel there is a probability of absorbing the women’s and junior panels with the men’s and making it a common selection committee overlooking all three areas. At present there is a separate selection committee for the men’s, women’s and junior cricketers.

SLC didn’t have an issue finding suitable names for the women’s and junior selection committees, but ran short in the men’s where they submitted only four names – three of them who were serving in the panel – Ashantha de Mel, Chaminda Mendis and Vinothen John. SLC have included the name of Pramodya Wickramasinghe to this list.

There is likelihood that the selection committee will be expanded to include one person to overlook the women’s cricket and another to oversee the junior cricket.

The onus would be on the National Sports Council headed by former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene that also consists of another former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara to probably identify the selectors who would form the cricket selection committee and submit it to the Ministry of Sports.